Reflections and practices of self-care and collective care for women human rights defenders in the current crisis

In the midst of crisis, defending and caring for life is a political act

What we experienced at the discussion “Let's talk about life: Defenders of territory and the commons share their knowledge and alternatives in the face of the current crisis”.”, It was unbelievable. Here you will find the article in Pikara Magazine and the recorded audio. Lolita Chávez and Míriam Miranda guided a space in which we met 369 activists and human rights defenders from Mesoamerica and Spain, many of you read us here. Many of you read us here, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

In the midst of the crisis, defending and caring for life is a political act, as is sharing our experiences and knowledge. For this new space, we plan to communicate our emotions and share our struggles in the face of this crisis that has taken us off the streets. We will also put into practice some self-care tools to weave dialogues of solidarity and organisation.

The meeting was facilitated by Ana María Hernández and Nallely Tello of Oaxaca Consortium, with whom we co-created it. We were joined by Yamileth Molina and Yessica Trinidad from the IM-Defensoras in Nicaragua and Honduras, both with a long history of collective care within organisations. Consorcio Oaxaca, for its part, has been running the Casa de cuidado y sanación since 2016. “La Serena”, as part of the comprehensive feminist protection strategy promoted by IM-Defensoras for women human rights defenders.

Daniela Fontaine, in charge of Collective Care at Calala, helped to support the meeting and all the emotions that arose and that we shared in this convulsive context. We invite you to consult the manual “Physical, emotional and digital self-care in times of pandemic”.” that he compiled when this situation began. Hopefully some of the recommendations will bring them closer to their families, bring warmth to their bodies and bring them peace of mind.

We also thank the Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament for its support on issues of Integral Feminist Protection and women human rights defenders.